Role of Small Islands in UN Climate Negotiations: A Constructivist Viewpoint

Abstract

This article is about small island developing states (SIDS) and their role in the United Nations (UN) climate negotiations. It presents a discussion about how a constructivist model of foreign policy analysis and international system design can be used to explain the impact of climate ideas of SIDS on UN climate system. The SIDS have been in the UN climate negotiations since the 1980s, committed to a climate agenda with clear ideas about the challenges they face and the type of solutions they seek from the international policy community. In this respect, this article seeks to explain that climate ideas shared among SIDS have established an intersubjective understanding to promote a compelling common voice at international climate negotiations, which is based on an island vulnerability identity. These ideas have shaped the policy thinking and interests of climate negotiators to design institutional frameworks that have given special consideration to SIDS. It concludes that this observation represents a disproportionate impact of SIDS. Despite the weak material powers for being small islands, their climate agenda has influenced the UN system design to address their concerns.

Small Island Developing States and climate securitisation in international politics: Towards a comprehensive conception

“…SIDS' claims on the life-threatening effects of climate change have preceded the 2007 and 2011 Security Council debates. The 2009 UNGA resolution was informed by their common agenda to create international awareness about the unique vulnerabilities and existential threats faced by small and low-lying islands (Rasheed, 2019(Rasheed, , 2020(Rasheed, , 2021avan Schaik et al, 2018).…”

“…SIDS launched their first international campaign in the late 1980s as part of their collective effort to influence the UNFCCC process. In the mid-1980s, the Maldives had warned the members of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and the UNGA about the existential threats faced by island communities due to sea level rise (Barnett & Campbell, 2010;Edwards, 1990;Rasheed, 2019Rasheed, , 2020. The 1989 Small States Conference on Sea Level Rise, held in the Maldives capital, Male', brought together 14 small island states and like-minded parties from the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean to work collectively to promote the unique case of SIDS.…”

“…This conference led to the formation of their ad hoc coalition, the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). Since the early 1990s, AOSIS has been very successful in navigating climate negotiations to incorporate the existential effects of climate change into SIDS' climate agenda (Ashe et al, 1999, p. 210;Rasheed, 2019). SIDS' vulnerability-based existential narrative has been backed by international research and policy developments over the past 30 years (Rasheed, 2020).…”

Diplomatic Strategies in Addressing Climate-Induced Migration: A Critical Review of South Asian Nations

“…The alliance was founded on a shared understanding of the threats posed by climate change, the vulnerabilities of islands, and the necessity of international action to assist the needs of SIDS (Betzold, Castro, & Weiler, 2012). Since the 1980s, the SIDS have participated in UN climate negotiations, demonstrating their commitment to a climate agenda and their specific needs about the kinds of solutions they want from the global policy community (Rasheed, 2019).…”